Locals could miss out on Olympic Jobs

Language and manual skills training must meet the needs of people living near the Olympic Park, said assembly sports committee chair Dee Doocey.

About 108,000 people of workable age in the Olympic boroughs are unemployed.

The London Development Agency (LDA) said ensuring Londoners benefited from the Olympics was a "priority".

"We need to get this right from the very start or we risk losing the truly life-changing potential of the Games," said Ms Doocey

Up to 50,000 new jobs in the Lower Lea Valley have been promised by the London Employment and Skills Taskforce and the LDA.

'Lasting legacy'

This includes 12,000 jobs in the Olympic Park, with more jobs due to be created in the run-up to the games.

But a quarter of people of working age in the neighbouring boroughs of Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest have no qualifications.

Poor English among local workers and the wrong kind of construction training skills need to be tackled "urgently", the assembly's economic development, culture, sport and tourism committee said.

A LDA spokesman said: "We are actively seeking to prepare local people for these jobs and ensure a lasting legacy for Londoners through targeted, industry-relevant skills and employment support.

"Many of our programmes are already under way and their impact will increase as more are rolled out."

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Source: www.bbc.co.uk